making memories through food, wine and travel

Precious Moments

First a brief update – Mr. N’s show is going very well. His performances blow me away – every time. For those of you that don’t know the story of Medea, Medea is betrayed by her husband Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts fame) and she is filled with rage that culminates in the murdering of her two sons. Mr. N is one of those sons. He plays his role spectacularly and makes me wince and tense each and every time he calls out “Mother!” just before he dies.

I tell you, even though I know it’s not real, it is not an easy thing to watch. It’s an incredibly well-done show that is thought-provoking, heart-wrenching and powerful. He even had his first review printed in a local stage review. The reviewer said of Mr. N and his stage brother, “…deliver performances that are wise beyond their years as Medea’s children.” He is thrilled.

And today we are off to Miss A’s gymnastics performance. She is all a flutter about it. She’s been dressed and ready to go for hours, and has literally been climbing the walls! I’m not kidding. She has learned how to scale a doorway – and not by feet on either side of the frame – but rather by gripping one side of the door frame like a koala and climbing her way up to to the ceiling. It’s a good thing she has a place to go and get this energy out!

Now back to our French adventure. If you guessed that the kids’ favorite French food was crepes you would be correct! We tried a variety of foods from mussels and macaroons, to cheese and of course chocolate (well, them, not me). As you can imagine, everything was delicious and it’s hard to truly pick a favorite, but the one thing the kids kept coming back to again and again, were crepes. They were fast, available everywhere and the toppings were unlimited. So today we bring you French crepes.

We started by blending together flour, milk, water, eggs, sugar and salt. We let the batter sit at room temperature for about an hour before pouring it a bit at a time into our greased and hot skillet.

The crepes cooked for about two-minutes on the first side – waiting until you see the edges brown is crucial so as not to flip too early and make a mess.

We sprinkled a little sugar on either sides as the crepes cooked – just as we watched them do in Paris. While we didn’t have all the fancy crepe equipment the creperies do, our skillets worked just fine.

Although smaller than the crepes in Paris, we were still able to fill these with similar ingredients. I never realized how easy these are to make and am surprised we’ve never tried them before. I can guarantee we will be making these again.

We filled our crepes with our favorite ingredients from our trip. For Miss A and Mike that would be Nutella and bananas. For Mr. N and I, it was lemon, honey and cinnamon. We threw on a bit of confectioner’s sugar for good measure as well.

The crepes, not surprisingly were a hit. The kids gave them 3-1/2 spoons. Mike and I came in at 3 spoons. They were good, but not quite as good as in the City of Lights. I mean honestly how could they be! But while our kitchen isn’t in Paris, we are sure to be making these again. Perhaps with savory ingredients for the next go-round.

And as promised here are some more images from our time in Paris. Despite only having three full days and cramming quite a bit of sightseeing into the day, we did manage to find time to lounge about in parks, linger over meals, play at parks, picnic and simply be together as a family with no outside interruptions. It was a precious time.

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We’ll be back soon with highlights and recipes from our next European destination. Have a great week!

I’m so happy to hear Mr. N’s play is going well! I can see how matured he’ll become after going through this! All the patience, endurance, and practice practice practice… it’s amazing. And Miss A climbing the wall – hahahah I can imagine. Mine is climbing the staircases every time I don’t see her! So it was crepe! It looks so delicious. Hard to replicate the crepe in Paris? 🙂 Thanks for sharing more pictures with us!

I’m just delighted for this update, Kristy. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to it! 🙂 I am sure it is really hard to see your son at certain junctures in the storyline, and the fact that he is doing such a wonderful job at performing would only make it more emotional! I’m so glad he’s enjoying himself, too. What a memory for each of you, huh? And I wish you had a video of Miss A scaling the door frame. What a little monkey. 🙂 I love crepes and have never made them myself. I think this recipe looks very tempting and I’d like to try. Yours look pretty…that might take a little practice! You’re living quite the schedule right now, so I hope you continue to do well. Bravo to the two little stars! ox

And to think we knew him when… ;-). Congratulations Mr. N. I can only imagine how exciting this whole adventure has been for you and you are making a splash in the media too! I would find it very real (or surreal) as well mom to hear my son scream out before the end… wow. I get pins & needles just thinking about it. Crepes are one of our favorite family treats and we always top them with a drizzle of fresh lemon too! I’m especially fond of ones that pack the melted cheese :). I’m not surprised this was such a hit all around! Bet your family would love savory crepes too. Ah Paris, doesn’t get much better than that.

Congrats to both Mr. N and Miss A! Mr. N. looks like he might have a future in acting. I can only imagine it is difficult for you to watch for many reasons especially when he calls out “mother”. What is it with our kids and their voices. We can hear them from a mile a way when they call out to us for help or even whisper our names softly. Hoping that Miss A had a stellar gymnastic performance. Great minds do think alike! How fun that we both posted crepes in the same week. I love all your fillings and toppings and love how golden your version turned out. I am glad you could keep the Paris excursion going in the kitchen. Take Care and have a super week. BAM

Hi Kristy!
Your french crêpes look ,so delicious!
I’am very happy you had a beautiful moments in Paris. It is a very nice town. I live there but I never take time to enjoy and appreciate.
Thank you for your nice recipe,
Chantal

Yeah Mr. N! YEAH! Only wish I could have been there in person to see him. I know ya’ll were proud:) How come your crepes look soooo much more plump and amazing than mine? I am trying your recipe this morning. As in the next 30 minutes:)

Congrats to Mr N. That’s a very mature play for young boys to be involved in. I can imagine their acting roles would be quite challenging. And yes, I have a climber too and we have marks all of the walls to prove it. I need to get our hallway repainted! I do hope she went well. The photos of your time in Paris tell me you had the very best of times and precious family time as well xx

Congratulations to Mr. N. don’t think I could sit through the play, I would get too emotional. Looking forward to reading about Miss A’s gymnastics performance.
Your crepes look wonderfully delicious, Thanks for sharing the lovely photos from Paris, you and your family sure had a grand time..

“makes me wince and tense each and every time he calls out “Mother!” just before he dies.”

Ouch, the feels… that can’t be nice to watch 😦

Loved seeing more photos of Paris Kristy – again, so glad you had fun. I feel like I would take it personally if you hadn’t. Crepes are gooooood. Not sure if I’d say they were my favourite. Did you have a chance to go to a creperie restaurant (I mean, like, a “real” sit-down one) or did you just get street ones? Real ones with plates and knives and forks are a great experience… I recommend it some day if you go back again. If you need inspiration for savoury crepes (they’re called galettes actually, at least they are if they’re made in the traditional way with buckwheat flour) I actually posted a recipe some time ago here. I’d love to be able to do them like they do in France… with that big flat plate and that little wooden… smooshing thing to smear out the batter. So cool!

I’ve always wanted to see Medea – and what a thrill that your son is performing in it! I can’t imagine what an intense experience that must be, especially given the subject of the play.
So glad your crepes were a hit!

The photos are lovely Kristy, you can see the joy in all of your faces. I’m so glad Mr. N’s show is going so well, what a tragic story. I saw that review on FB and it was outstanding! He sure has found his calling.
The crepes look fantastic, I can’t believe it’s your first time. Crepes were our favourite food too, I just love the savoury versons. Several years ago I bought my cast iron crepe pan at Galleries Lafayette in Paris (that was before they were so sticky about the suitcase weight!). I love it but the unfortunate thing is that it’s far too heavy to lift to circle the batter around the pan. I love the look of your crepes, just beautiful.

I think I’m going to have to get a crepe pan. We found these little crepe tools online too that I’m thinking of ordering. These might help so that you don’t have to lift the pan. 🙂 The play is such a tragic story Eva and the director has put together an amazing interpretation of it. It gets more powerful each time I see it. 🙂

Both Mr N and Miss A are such wonderful children, you must be incredibly proud! Your crepes look fabulous too. Think I might have to make some savuory ones for supper tonight.
Have a super week ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo

Well,would you believe I had tears flowing as I read your post? I was doing well until I read the newspaper bit, and that did it… what a WONDERFUL accomplishment, and yes, I can see it in his eyes the intensity of the role and how well he tuned into it… How can parents stand so much emotion and feeling so proud?

Loved every photo, and the slideshow at the end, which I watched with Phil – I have a few stories about Les Deux Magots…. and the Cafe de Flore nearby…. maybe one day we’ll get to meet and I’ll tell you all about it 😉

Crepes… I should really make them at home, it is one of our favorite things to enjoy while in Paris – I even have a crepe pan, and buckwheat flour. shame on me.

my only disappointment with this post: no photos of the door frame climber in action. I will try to recover from this blow. 😉

LOL – I will try and get you a photo of our door climber for the next post. It’s ridiculous how strong she is! Glad you enjoyed the photos and I look forward to sharing stories in person one of these days! And yes – the review had me in tears too. 😉

Oh, I really do have a lot of catching up to do, Kristy! Paris is one of my favorite cities, you could almost feel the love in the air when you first arrive:) I loved your slideshows, there’s some great shots, you’ll have to enlarge some for your home! What a great actor, you can see on Mr. N’s face how seriously he is taking his role! I hope Miss A’s gymnastics show went great! Now, crepes will be on my list to try this week!xx

Photos for our home is the next thing on my list. It took me about a month to get through all the photos and make our photo books. We definitely want to hang some shots around the house for sure. And Miss A has decided she wants a Paris themed room now. I think we’ll tackle that this summer. 🙂

Your crepes look absolutely delicious, would you believe I have never made them before? I have certainly eaten my share though :). Congratulations to Mr. N!!! What an amazing opportunity! I will be looking for him on Broadway :).

A nice savoury crepe filling is mushrooms in white sauce – one of my favourites when I was a kid (it would be now too, except now that I’m the one who has to make the white sauce it’s lost its appeal a bit…). So impressed that Mr N got a written review, I hope it’s in his scrapbook!

Both the boys look very serious and in character reacting to the actor speaking in the pictures. Miss A’s gymnastic exploits sound like a great way for her to get all that energy out. It’s great that they each have their area of achievement and all the family is supporting them and cheering them on.

Crepes ARE easy, aren’t they and delicious whether you fill them with a sweet or savoury filling. I’ve never heard of sugaring the crepes while frying but it certainly seems to give them a lot of colour. I’ve always made mine very pale. The matcha crepes and cake that I made with them were my most adventurous crepe project.

Yay Mr N!
I think I would wince if I had to see my son die on stage time after time! hats off to you for being strong and supportive Kristy
My kids Love crepes! My son is right here and he is demanding crepes NOW after reading your post with me 🙂

I hope that he loves them Sawsan! Crepes will definitely be in our rotation much more often now. 🙂 As for Mr. N’s show, it’s funny how tense my muscles are after each one. I don’t know how the actors sustain this level of intensity for weeks on end either. They are amazing.

What’s cookin’…

Having returned from our 7-month European sabbatical, we're returning to the kitchens and neighborhoods in our own backyard with a focus on culture, education, history and delicious food. #EatPlayWorld

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